12 Week Ultrasound

Vince & I went to my 12 week ultrasound and appointment today. Technically, I'm 11w5d, but close enough. The ultrasound tech, Amy, is so nice and we had a great appointment. Today they measured the head to bottom (2 inches) and she said if we add the legs, the baby would be about 3 inches long. The heartbeat was 149. The baby was moving a lot and doing quite a bit of dancing around, moving legs and arms. Vince was able to videotape the whole ultrasound. And Amy told us with 90% certainty that it's a boy!

We saw our 2nd doctor out of the 5 we will see in the practice. She was nice and told us what to expect the next couple of visits. Also, since I'm of "advanced maternal age," she ordered us a high risk ultrasound at week 20 at Spartanburg Regional. They have a more sophisticated system that can detect 90% of birth defects. Their machine can only detect about 65% of defects, so this will be a much more thorough ultrasound, looking at the heart, umbilical cord, etc. I'm loving all the pictures, so I say bring it on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVM6o6YgtY

Chimney Rock in August

Vince & I headed up to Chimney Rock on Sunday. We had not been back up there since they reopened it. However, we did find out that lots of the park was still under construction. For example, the elevator was not open so we decided not to climb all the stairs to the top. We decided to walk around the trail that goes to the waterfall. Since we drove up with the t-tops off, we had gotten a little warm. The trail was actually nice & cool being in the shade with all the trees. We walked for a little while & took some pictures before heading to the town to shop around.

We walked through lots of little shops and then shared my first ever Blenheim Ginger Ale. It was quite spicy when it hit the back of the throat. We both liked it a lot. We ate BBQ at Duncan's BBQ and enjoyed the best spring well water.

Week 10

I know, I'm already 11 weeks pregnant & technically they say this is my 12th week since I'm approaching week 12, but I had Vince go ahead and snap my picture this past week at week 10 so we could keep track of the baby bump. I've already gotten a few maternity items to wear & can no longer button any regular pants. I was joking with Vince that I needed to start doing my P90X video - specifically Ab Ripper X - to help with my expanding waist. But, that will have to wait another 6 months. No ab routine for this girl.

Family Visits

This past week we had a few family visitors. Kim, Nathan, & Grayson stopped at our house on the way back to Virginia from Mississippi on Tuesday night. She brought us some BBQ from a great place in MS for dinner. We ate on our back patio and enjoyed the evening. They left the next morning.

Then on Thursday night, my parents and Elise stopped by on their way from Florida to Virginia. They stayed a bit longer until Saturday morning. I had 4 cakes and 24 cake pops to do for Friday and 1 for Saturday. So when they arrived Thursday evening, I was working madly to finish up the cakes. Everyone pitched in to cook dinner (we grilled out steaks) and we ate on the patio. I finished up the last cake around 9:30pm. Whew! I don't know why everyone always orders cakes on the same day.

On Friday night, we all went to Renato's Italian Restaurant, along with Vince's parents. It was a fabulous meal. We had reservations and got right in. It was much better than waiting 45 minutes for Olive Garden.

The other big thing this week was that I announced on FB that we were expecting. And for some reason ever since then, I have been a complete ball of nerves hoping that everything goes okay with this pregnancy. Our next appointment is next Monday. It's going to be torture waiting another whole week to find out if everything is still going well. Pray for a happy & healthy pregnancy!

It's a Baby!

On July 5, I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive! I immediately sent Vince a picture of it on his cell phone. I know, that's probably not the most romantic way to find out, but we had been trying for a while & I just couldn't wait to share the news with him. I cautiously waited a few days before I called to make a doctor's appointment. I wanted to make sure this jelly bean was sticking.

My first appointment was on July 12. I saw the nurse and the financial lady. They drew blood, took a urine sample, took my blood pressure, and weighed me. Then we sat in a room and talked about the dos and don'ts. The financial lady came in and gave me a break down of how much money is due each visit for the next five months in order to have my doctor's bill paid off well before I have the baby. I scheduled my first OB visit for the following week.

My OB is a very funny guy. He's down to earth and well educated. Vince went with me to my appointment on July 19. The OB did the complete physical (pap smear and all) and then chatted with us in his office. It wasn't until we were leaving that I asked him about being of "advanced maternal age." He seemed surprised. I think most people don't realize I'm old. But anything over 35 is considered "advanced maternal age." He said I would get a few more tests done than other folks because of this. So we scheduled a viability ultrasound for July 29. I'm going to love having the extra ultrasounds done due to my age.

Vince and I both got to see the baby's heart beat at 7 weeks 2 days old. It looked very healthy and the technician printed off a few pictures from the ultrasound. The heartbeat was 130, which steadily increases over time as it develops. I think we both teared up just seeing how real it was on the screen.

Since then, we have affectionately referred to the baby as Cletus the Fetus. My breasts have been very tender but I haven't been very sick. If I start to feel a little funny, I try to eat something. So far, that has worked very well. They only time I got sick was when I took my prenatal vitamins in the morning on an empty stomach. Since then, I only take them at night after dinner.

At 8 weeks, I participated in my first TP Tuesday. This is where you measure the number of toilet paper squares around your belly to see how many it takes. I was 8.5 squares. I forgot to do it during week 9, but at week 10, it took 9 squares. And boy, can I tell. My stomach has definitely got a bump. I cannot fit into any pants that I own.

When we went to Florida two weeks ago, mom took me shopping for a few loose tops and a dress. I have been wearing them all the time since then. I just need to get a few pairs of pants. I did score on e-bay and got 2 pairs of jeans from one listing for only $11. They fit perfectly and don't need to be hemmed.

As far as cravings go, I started out wanting cheese. I ate those sharp cheddar cheese squares in snack size packets. I then decided one day that I had to have Chinese food. I got it to go so Vince & I could have dinner that night. Only I ate 1/2 of it in the car immediately when I got it. I was not waiting until I got home. My latest phase has been bananas. So far I haven't really wanted anything sweet, which is really rare.

I was trying to find some clever ways to let folks know about our happy news. I finally decided on a picture of a hamburger bun in the oven. I posted in on FB, followed by a status update: Vince Williams is expecting and I'm pretty sure it's mine. Then I posted a picture of the ultrasound from our 7 week appointment.

I can't wait until our 12 week ultrasound so we can actually tell it's a baby and make things out in the picture. In fact, the tech said we may even be able to tell the sex of the baby. We'll find out on August 29th!

Get Motivated

On Wednesday, some of my co-workers and I got up bright and early in order to ride together to the Get Motivated seminar in Greenville at the Bilo Center. I left my house at 6:15 in order to catch a ride with 5 others since parking would be limited. We arrived downtown at 7am and parked at the Hyatt. We found great seats and settled in for a nice day. Anticipating long lines & slow service, 4 of us had packed our lunch. The other 4 planned on eating at the Bilo Center.

The seminar started out with some great speakers. We heard Dr. Robert Schuller, Rudy Giuliani, Lou Holtz, Steve Forbes and Laura Bush (live & in person!). All the speakers had some great talking points. I was smart enough to take bathroom breaks before an official break in order to not wait in line. Around 9:30am, I noticed the whole place was completely packed in and people were starting to stand up since no seats were left.

At 1pm, they finally let us break for lunch for one hour. The four of us that brought our lunch headed out to the car. The other four were saving seats since we already saw some being stolen when folks went on break. We ate our lunch and came back around 1:30pm. The doors were locked. The fire marshall closed the place down for over-crowding. There were probably a thousand of us locked out that had left the building for lunch. One lady said she came outside to take a phone call since cell phone reception was horrible inside the building. She left her purse inside & they wouldn't let her back in. I had left my jacket on the seat in order to save my seat.

It was about 95 degrees outside. We found a bit of shade to stand under while we waited until folks got seated at 2pm for the start of the second half. They still did not open the doors. By this time, ants were crawling around on my feet & I was tired of standing outside. The four of us walked back to the Hyatt to use the restroom & cool off. We sent one guy back over at 2:30pm and he said the doors were still locked. Finally, after 3pm, our co-workers emerged and we were finally able to leave. We missed seeing Bill Cosby, Colin Powell, and the CEO of Southwest Airlines.

What a de-motivating day. Several things were to blame:
1. Too many tickets sold
2. No one at Bilo was scanning or counting tickets, they just tore off your stub so they had no clue how many people were in the building.
3. When they release 18,000 people to go to 6 concession stands at the same time, someone will get mad about the crowd & call a fire marshall.

Our 4 co-workers that stayed inside never got to eat lunch. They saved our seats and the lunch lines were too long. We drove through Chick-Fil-A after 3pm for them to eat lunch. I, of course, got a milkshake - long deserved for standing in the hot sun for so long. Remind me not to wear white pants again if I am going to be locked out of a building for a long time.

Spring Hill, FL

While in Florida this past week, we were able to catch up with my Aunt Susie, cousin Jimmy, and some of their friends. We ate dinner at one of the best Cuban restaurants anywhere. I ordered the garbanzo bean soup and a cuban sandwich. Their bread is sooo good. I ended up going back there the next day with mom to get a huge loaf of Cuban bread to bring home. Now I just need to figure out what to do with it before it goes bad.

My cousin Jimmy owns a wildlife sanctuary and has volunteers come from all over the world to work with his large cats. Most of them are studing to be animal VETs. One girl in the pictures is from France & one from the Netherlands.

Saying our goodbyes outside the restaurant...

We were able to swim in the pool several times at the house. Vince & Elise enjoyed a night swim on our last night there.